Make Way For Citizens to Build the Nation Themselves – Otabil to Gov’t

Post by Peace Ezebuiro

General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensah Otabil has once again released one of those his inspiring speeches that never fail to leave his target audience reminiscing days after hearing him. This time around, he targets his speech at the government who according to him has been standing in the way of Ghanaian citizens, inhibiting their rate of progress.

He believes that it is never the sole duty of the state to bring success and good livelihood to her citizens, rather they should just set up the necessary rules and regulations that will guide the people while they build themselves and the nation up.

According to reports from citifmonline.com, Pastor Mensah Otabil made these statements while delivering the keynote address at the inauguration ceremony of an ultramodern solar manufacturing plant in Tema. He further emphasized the need for the government to make way for citizens to go about their businesses without unnecessary intrusions once the rules and regulations have been put in place.

“The state must make way for Ghanaian citizens to build the nation themselves; the state must get out of the way of the citizens. Just set out the rules, enforce the rules, leave us alone and we know how to run our lives and our businesses,” he noted.

Pastor Mensah Otabil continued by pointing out the need for Ghanaians to renew their faith in the foundational principles of the country, which is freedom and justice to enable the nation grow. He noted that presently, what borders almost every business person in Ghana is whether the government likes him or not. This he said is adversely affecting the economy, stressing that people must be allowed to operate freely without seeking for favours from government.

“We must renew our faith in the nation’s foundational principles which is freedom and justice. And I must add work and happiness. Just work and be happy not looking back to see whether the government likes you or not; who cares whether the government likes you or not. I must live my life; whether you hate me or not shouldn’t be my problem. Why should the business person wonder whether the minister of a particular ministry likes him or not or the President or some other person likes him or not? All we want to see is that, the laws of Ghana are applied fairly and justly and I live my life the way I want to live my life”.

Another very important point the outspoken preacher made in his address was the fact that most Ghanaians achieve success at post retirement age. He explained that those people would have done better much earlier in life, were they given proper space and the right environment to operate.

“We have seen that when people are given space, they can function. I wish the group chairman of the solar manufacturing plant; Mr Akuamoah Boateng had done this solar investment at age 35. The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zukerburg developed Facebook at age 24 as well as some great industrialists also developed their businesses at a tender age and took it to a high level in their thirties. But in our part of the world, post retirement is where people achieve success”.

Buttressing this point, Pastor Mensah Otabil said that success must be produced at a younger age so that people can live the rest of their lives in self actualization and fulfillment. He explained that what Ghanaian citizens desire most is not to be fed by government or to be provided with industries; but rather the provision of an enabling environment that will push them to do things on their own.

“The state will just do what it must do and the people will do what they can do. The language we need in this country is that, we don’t want government to feed us, we don’t need government to build our industries for us; but rather open the door and we will do it ourselves because we know how to do things for ourselves” he noted.

According to the renowned teacher, Ghana does not have big problems but rather little incidents that have been left to develop into national crisis. He pointed out the main features of a modern society as “enforcement of player standards and codes for the management of all aspects of the society, enlargement of personal liberties through equitable access of all to justice, fairness and opportunity, establishment of reliable systems of transportation to quickly and efficiently move people and goods, capital and information to build an integrated society, expansion and growth of science and technology industry, invention, arts and culture, encouragement and growth of knowledge based society that creates areas of specialization to increase the competitiveness of various segments of the society.” All these if put in place, he said, will enable citizens create wealth and do things for themselves without government interference.

He concluded by saying that for Ghana to move from third world to a better world, she needs a reliable national identification system, credible land tittle registration system, usable and physical address system and an enforced town and city planning system.